ISLAMABAD: Raymond Davis will be produced before a judge of a lower court in Lahore on Friday (today) after the expiry of his 12-day investigation in police custody, an official, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune.
Davis, a US national, who is being held for killing two Pakistani motorcyclists in broad daylight in Lahore, was arrested on the spot after shooting Muhammad Faheem and Faizan Haider on Jan 27.
Meanwhile, the provincial government is said to have assured Islamabad that it would not hamper any effort in resolving the issue diplomatically the source added.
Keeping in view the sensitivity of the issue and in the larger national interest, the Punjab government would never cause any embarrassment to the federal government, the source said.
In a related development, the police had strictly been ordered by the provincial government to avoid any press statement or a comment on the progress of the investigation, or any other aspect of the case.
Faheems widow Shumaila who committed suicide, in her statement from her deathbed had said that she took her life because she felt that she would not get justice in view of the mounting pressure from the US to release her husbands killer.
After the completion of police investigation, the court has three options to send Davis to jail in judicial custody or to further extend his police custody on the plea of the investigators, eminent lawyer Barrister Bacha told The Express Tribune.
The third option provided under law is to grant him bail on a petition either by the accused himself, or the US Consulate-General of Lahore on his behalf.
As a matter of understanding between the federal and provincial government, the Punjab government will not contest the case before the Lahore High Court when it will decide next week about the disputed claim of diplomatic immunity for the accused, the source revealed.
The Express Tribune has also learnt that the US Consulate-General of Lahore has hired a prominent lawyer to defend its worker in both the courts, and to plead diplomatic immunity for Davis.
Washington says Davis is a member of the US embassys technical administrative staff and therefore entitled to full criminal immunity.
He cannot be lawfully arrested or detained in accordance with the Vienna Convention, US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley told reporters in Washington.
The federal government had never contested Washingtons claim and supported the argument, but maintained that the issue will be resolved by the court.
The LHC on a constitutional petition by a third party had issued a stay order barring the federal government from handing over Davis to Washington. Davis has also been placed on the Exit Control List by the ministry of interior on the court directive.
The provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah, who had been demanding the custody of a US Consulate vehicle and its driver who caused the death of another Pakistani citizen, is no more pressing his demand.
The driver, who went to help Davis after the shooting and crushed to a motorcyclist Abdul Rahman to death is hiding in the consulate. The US consulate had flatly denied police access to the car and its driver despite repeated demands by the provincial minister of law.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2011.